Düsseldorf-based Springlane creates and sells innovative kitchen and grilling products, while its magazine offers recipes and cooking tips. Founded in 2012, the e-commerce shop has now raised €10 million in a Series C round.
The transformation of its business model in 2018, which took the company from an online retailer to brand manufacturer, convinced investors to invest in further expansion. New investors include Christian Angermayer’s Apeiron Investment Group and the SUBG Group, which specializes in the development of growing companies in the German SME sector.
Since it was founded seven years ago, Springlane has been focusing on the trend towards conscious and qualitative cooking, building a community of foodies with high-quality content covering all aspects of cooking, baking and grilling. Under the Springlane and Burnhard brands, Springlane offers its own products such as ice cream machines, pasta machines, mixers, pots, pans, crockery, pizza ovens, grills, and accessories. Until the beginning of 2018, the company operated an online trade with more than 20,000 products of renowned third-party brands.
In April 2018, Springlane switched completely to its own products. Four months later, the missing turnover of the third-party brands was already fully compensated, and in April 2019, the company made a profit for the first time.
“We will use the capital in order to develop new business fields and advance innovation,” said the company’s founder, Marius Fritzsche. “Our deep understanding of the industry and our customers enables us not only to develop our own products and brands, but also to market them effectively and efficiently. This is the logical further development of the business model.”
“Building our own brands was an experiment… And it was a success: Today, we generate more sales with 100 products than we used to with 20,000,” said Fritzsche.
